Easy DIY French style Terra-Cotta pots

Bonjour! ( Do you see what I did there? ) So you are wanting to get that old world feel from your red clay pots… Everyone loves the look and feeling of French Terra-Cotta pots, but not everyone has the time or patience to wait around for the pots to age and for the minerals to deposit to give you that French countryside look. I personally had my pots outside in the elements for 2 years and they still looked brand new! ( say what?! ) well no longer! With using only the supplies I already had laying around the house, I looked at a few photos online and attempted to give my pots that dreamy-creamy-white-washed look.

For this easy-peasy DIY you will need the following:

a small paint brush. ( the kind you use on trim. I used a 1 1/3″ )

Creamy off-white beige or light gray paint. ( I used left over paint samples of Sherwin Williams : Agreeable Gray and Diverse Beige)

A paper towel or two. ( Depending on your messy level )

And lastly, a paper plate or old newspaper. ( to wipe off any excess paint from your brush)

oh my golly! How embarrassing! You will also need your Terra-Cotta pot ! ( or 5 I did my first batch with about 5 of them and 4 water catching plates )

Lets get started!

There are many different ways to go about giving your pots that “aged” look; for the purpose of this tutorial we will be using paint.

Start out with a clean, dry Terra-Cotta pot ( you can get them at any local hardware store for a few dollars ) Make sure your paint is well mixed and ready to go. Take your paint brush and dip it very lightly into your paint ( when I say lightly, check out the picture below: I mean l-i-g-h-t-l-y ! )

Dab paint onto your pot in a stabbing manner and really punch it in there ( make sure to change the direction of your brush, you don’t want a uniformed looking pattern on your pot) – you are using a dry brush technique and that will give you more texture and definition ( especially if you chose to layer two colors! )

Continue doing that until you get the look and coverage that you are wanting to achieve- remember light in some areas and more concentrated and smeared in others) If you find that you have too much paint in any given area, just dab it off or blending it in with your paper towel and brush and remember this is fun, the more distressed looking- the better!

If you are only using one color, let your paint dry and you are done! Enjoy your new French Terra-Cotta pot!

If you are using two colors ( like I did ) let your pot dry for about 30 minutes and repeat what you just did with your second color. Let your pot dry and now you are done! Enjoy! Beau! ( I’m sorry, I just can’t even help myself )

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